


Differently Us

by Lilith888



Series: The Future is Ours to Write [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Brotherly Love, Drarry, F/M, First Time, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hogwarts, M/M, Post-Hogwarts, Scorbus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:14:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 23
Words: 16,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26858791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilith888/pseuds/Lilith888
Summary: "That was his life now: his friends hosting a teenage party for New Year's Eve in his house, not really to do something nice for their children, but mostly not lo leave him alone during the holidays.Harry Potter was now a chaperon. The Chosen One. The boy who lived, twice. Chaperon."Everything starts from here. Will Harry be able to deal with everything that happens next?
Relationships: Astoria Greengrass/Draco Malfoy, Dean Thomas/Ginny Weasley, Draco Malfoy & Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger & Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Scorpius Malfoy & Albus Severus Potter, Scorpius Malfoy/Albus Severus Potter
Series: The Future is Ours to Write [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2070270
Comments: 42
Kudos: 80





	1. Chaperon

That was his life now: his friends hosting a teenage party for New Year’s Eve in his house, not really to do something nice for their children, but mostly not lo leave him alone during the holidays.

Harry Potter was now a chaperon. The Chosen One. The boy who lived, twice. Chaperon. 

He was grateful to Ron and Hermione for the effort, but leaving his house for them to decorate while he was going around collecting his children’s friends wasn’t really funny. Every single parent was so excited to give him their sons and daughters for him to protect them, that he was actually thinking about introducing alcohol at the party himself, just to see if anyone would have yelled at him for getting their children wasted.

But now he knew that he would probably get what he was looking for. Standing in front of the fire, ready to go for the last one, he knew that he was probably going to enjoy the ‘normality’ of the last visit of the evening.

“Malfoy Manor” he threw some powder in the fireplace and step into it. He found himself into a sitting room, dark but comfy, a velvet couch and two armchairs were in front of a coffee table, everything was grey and blue, not very  Slytherin . 

“Father please stop”.

“Please, be careful”.

“You already told me a hundred times”.

“And don’t do anything stupid”.

“Like what? It’s a party at Harry Potter’s house, with at least Mrs and Mr  Weasley controlling us!”.

“That’s exactly what I’m worried about!”.

“They saved the world and you think they can’t look after some teenagers?”.

“They can’t look after themselves!” and then they walked into the room. Harry was grinning, he knew this pick up would have been different. “Potter, how long have you been here?”

“Just a few seconds” Harry was definitely smiling too much for that to be true, and Draco was looking at him suspiciously “Are you ready to go Scorpius?”.

“Yes, Mr Potter”.

“Harry, please” Scorpius just nodded in response “Go,  Albus is waiting for you”.

The kid looked back at his father for a moment, then Malfoy gave him a nod “Have fun” and Scorpius was gone in the fire.

Harry was ready to follow him when Malfoy talked “If anything happens to him, I’m going to kill you”.

“I count on that” he was still smiling.

“I still owe you a drink” Draco spoke while sitting in an armchair, like it was a normal thing to say. Harry just nodded and came back home.


	2. Ron Weasley

Ron was absolutely freaking out. Nothing more, nothing less. And Harry and Hermione were laughing at him, like he had no reason at all to be so upset.

“How could you have let her leave the house dressed like that?”.

“Oh, stop it, she is dressed like any other girl of her age”.

“She is only 15!” they were stuck in the kitchen. Hermione was trying to stop her husband from making a scene in front of their sons, Rose in particular.

“Come on Ron, she is just wearing a skirt!” Harry regretted his words the second his best friend looked at him with a murderous look in the eyes.

“Wait a couple of years, and we’ll see what you would say about Lily”.

Harry raised his hands in surrender and went back to the living room just to fill up the popcorns. He had promised his sons not to embarrassed them, or control them, or hijack the attention. So, he just filled the bowl and took a look around while collecting some empty bottles of soda.

James was on the couch, a plastic glass in one hand, surrounded by girls looking at him like he was a walking dream, and not a teenager drinking a cola. Albus was with Rose, and her absolutely appropriate skirt, talking near the fireplace with Scorpius. Albus was nothing like James. He was very shy and quiet and preferred spending his time with his two best friends. In that moment Harry missed Lily, on a short trip with Ginny and her new boyfriend. Well, not so knew, talking about Dean Thomas.

Harry went back to the kitchen, where Ron and Hermione were still fighting, until she said “I’m not making my daughter change in the middle of a party. And you are going to stop being so melodramatic for her sake, because I swear to you: if you embarrass her you are lucky if we are having sex on Easter!”.

And that was something that Harry would had never wanted to hear. But after a moment of silence, Ron looked defeated, sat on a chair, arms crossing, face redder than his hair. 

And that was it, at least until Hermione got a fire call “Harry do you mind if I use your study?”

“No, of course”.

It took only ten seconds for Ron to get up, check if his wife was already upstairs and then look back at Harry “I know she wore that skirt for a boy”.

“Mmm” only answered Harry, pretty sure that he didn’t want to hear his friend’s next words.

“And I know that boy is the little sneaky Malfoy”.

“Ron please, drop it”.

“What if it was your daughter?”.

“He is a good boy, and seriously I don’t think Rose is into him” he had no idea actually, but he was really afraid of what Ron was going to do.

“He is a Malfoy!”.

Harry was trying to think about something, anything to make him stop. But it was too late. Ron entered the living room and Harry didn’t even had the time to stand up, that he was already back.

“They are not there!”.

“What does that mean? They can’t go anywhere outside the house” they have stayed hours putting protective spells and wards to prevent anyone to go in or out the house.

“Exactly, so they must be upstairs! In the bedrooms”.

“Ron, please. Don’t be  ridicu ...” and he was gone. 


	3. Unexpected

Harry was shocked and it took him almost a minute to realize what his friend was going to do. He got up in a hurry and burst into the living room. No sign of Ron, or Rosie and Scorpius either. He looked for Albus but he didn’t have time, so he run upstairs, under the surprised look of James. 

As soon as he found himself on the landing of the first floor, he could hear Hermione fire-calling in his study, for a minute he thought about asking her for help, but he decided otherwise and kept his climb. On the second floor he almost hit a small red figure. 

“Rosie, you are here!” he gasped. The girl was coming out of the second-floor bathroom. 

“Yeah, sorry about that”. 

“Have you seen your dad?”. 

“No, I was looking for Albus and...”. 

“Fuck! Sorry” the yell came from around the corner, where the boys’ rooms were. 

Harry found Ron sitting on the ground, back at the railing “What are you doing there?” and turned his look at the door close in front of them. 

“If I were you, I would wait” he looked almost shocked “Oh Rosie, you are here”. 

“Yeah, have you seen Albus and Scorpius?”. 

Ron got all red “Definitely”. 

In that moment Albus burst out of the door, looking all red, his hair a mess and the shirt all wrinkled “Uncle Ron I’m sorry, please don’t...” and stopped, looking up at his father. Harry should have been angry, surprised, embarrassed. He knew he should have felt all of that, instead he felt only sorry that his son looked so desperate in that moment. 

Scorpius choose that moment to exit the room and Rosie squeaked in delight “I knew it!”. 

Albus looked at her with anger, but only for a moment, because he was still looking at his father in real fear. 

“Ron, you better go downstairs before Hermione found you here” Harry never lost eye contact with his son “Take Rosie with you. We arrive in a minute”. 

Rosie was about to argue but his father pushed her and they returned to the party. 

“Dad I...” Albus started. 

“Wait” he looked down the stairs to see if the Weasleys had actually gone “In your room” and gestured the boys to go back inside. He closed the door behind them and looked at the scene in front of him. Albus’ bedroom was a mess, the boys’ shoes were still on the floor, next to the sweater that Scorpius was wearing that night. 

He sat on the guest bed opposite to his son’s and gestured the boys to sit. 

Albus was clearly waiting for the explosion, standing between Harry and his friend. Well, his boyfriend. But in the end, he sat and started looking at his hands “Dad, I’m sorry”. 

“For?”. 

“I don’t know” he felt miserable. 

“Mr Potter, please. We weren’t doing anything...”. 

“Harry”. 

“Sorry, what?”. 

“I told you to call me Harry. And you are right” at those words Albus looked back at his father. 

“Dad”. 

“I’m sorry I couldn’t stop Ron. He was thinking that Rose was with Scorpius and freaked out”. 

“With me? Doing what?”. Harry raised an eyebrow at the question “Oh, OH NO”. 

“Clearly not”. 

“You are not... mad” that was a statement, not a question. 

“This was unexpected but why should I? Were you using precautions?” 

The boys’ eyes went wide “No, we weren’t...” at Harry’s unconvinced gaze his son explained “We haven’t. Yet. We were just... kissing” and Harry knew what that ‘kissing’ actually meant, but he didn’t want to embarrass his son any more. 

“Ok. The important is that you are careful”. 

“So that’s it?” for the first time Albus looked relieved, like he could breathe again. 

“Well, not really. We have to tell your mother. And your father Scorpius”. 


	4. Take responsability

Scorpius and  Albus tried to put on a fight. Especially about telling Draco.  Albus didn’t really care about Ginny’s reaction. At his eyes the mother was the one leaving his father for another man, she was the one who had left the house and her three children, so she had done far worse than him.

But Draco Malfoy was another story. 

“He deserves to know and you can tell him, or I will do”.

“But why?”.

“If you want to stay together during this holiday, and in the future, in our houses, you both have to take responsibility. In particular for being caught. And what happened was under my responsibility so, my call”.

“But nothing happened!” that was  Albus ’ new argument.

“If nothing happened then you can tell it to your boyfriend’s father”.

“He is not going to be like you!”.

“How can you tell?” he didn’t know why, but he was pretty sure that Draco wasn’t going to react badly. Well, not too badly.

“Your father his right” Scorpius hadn’t said much until that moment “but I don’t know how”.

“I can be with you, if you want” Harry offered, and Scorpius nodded.

“Me too” added  Albus .

“No, maybe it’s better if you don’t come. I don’t want him to get angry at you”.

“Instead he is pretty good at being angry with me. It’s going to be like the old times” Harry tried to be light.

“Can we do it tomorrow?” asked Scorpius.

“Scorpius could sleep here” suggested Albus. At the angry look on Harry’s face he added quickly “I promised he sleeps in the guest bed. You can put a motion spell on our beds if you want!”

Harry thought for a while then answered “I can fire-call your father and asked him if it’s ok” Scorpius nodded “And tomorrow I take you home. Now go back to the party”.

The boys looked at each other and then walked out of the bedroom. Harry soon followed to go to his study. Hermione had left so he put himself in front of the fire and called Malfoy Manor. Malfoy answered in a few seconds.

“Potter! What happened?” at the panic in the man voice Harry felt bad.

“Nothing, Scorpius is fine. I just wanted to ask you if he can stay after the party. I’ll take him home tomorrow after breakfast, if it’s ok for you”.

Malfoy looked suspiciously at him, and it was a remarkable look to be noticed through the flames “Why he is not asking me himself?”.

“They are at the party; I’m just doing him a favour” and then added “And it was a good excuse to exit a room full of teenagers” ‘and hormones’ he would have wanted to add.

“Ok, no problem” it seemed like the conversation was over but then he went on “I’ll see you tomorrow then. Happy New Year Potter” and then he interrupted the call.

The first thing Harry thought about in that moment was that it was a shame to ruin this new balance between them so soon. 


	5. James

The party went on with no other incidents. Ron looked much more relaxed, and Hermione had no idea of what had happened. Scorpius and  Albus stayed with the others in the living room, avoiding to talk to Rosie. Well,  Albus was avoiding her, Scorpius simply kept his look down trying to avoid everyone’s. But he was doing that even earlier so, it wasn’t very worrying. It seemed like no one has noticed what had happened until James appeared in the kitchen, in a moment when Harry was alone in there.

“Hey James. Need something?”.

His son looked at him, scrutinizing him “What did you say to him?” he sounded almost angry.

“What did I say to whom?”.

“ Albus ”.

Harry froze, he didn’t think it was his right to expose his son, not even to his brother “What are you talking about?” but he knew he wasn’t fooling him.

“I can’t believe it! I thought you would be the understanding one!” he sounded really angry. But it meant that he already knew.

“What he did was wrong”.

“He is your son! How could you say that he is wrong?”.

“He sneaked out and got caught buy your uncle! In a house full of kids. Malfoy has the right to know what is underage son did under my supervision!”.

“Wait what?”.

“I can’t keep this from him!”.

“So, you are telling me that they look so miserable because they got caught and now you are going to tell Scorpius’ father?”.

“Yeah! And I would love to be the cool dad but they need to learn to be responsible, and safe, and smarter”.

“So, you are ok with them”.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” and Harry suddenly got it “You thought I wasn’t ok with  Albus being with a boy?”.

“I didn’t. But then I saw them coming downstairs, and they looked so miserable...”.

“Yeah, because they got caught”.

James sat next to his father passing a hand through his dark hair.

“So, you knew?” Harry asked his son.

“He didn’t tell me, but they are quite obvious. Well, if you know them”.

“So, they are alone in this”.

James nodded “ Albus already struggled with being in  Slytherin . I imagined how he must have felt realizing he was gay”.

“But you kept an eye on him”.

“Always”.

Harry hugged his son “I’m so proud of you”.

“Yeah, stop before someone come in” and shook off his dad laughing “Are you going to tell mom?” asked then more seriously.

“Yeah”.

“Is it necessary?”.

“Your mom loves all of you, nothing can change that”.

“Something changed with you...” and then left, giving Harry no time to answer.


	6. Please, stay

The party ended and Ron took every kid at home. Scorpius stayed but looked very anxious, even if Albus tried to be funny and kept talking to him. After helping Harry with the mess that the living room was, they all got to the bedrooms’ floor. Harry was a little behind and he overheard Scorpius. 

“Maybe I should sleep in the living, on the couch”. 

“Don’t be ridiculous”. 

“I don’t want to abuse your father’s patience”. 

“Scorpius please, we don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow. Please, stay”. 

Harry made a lot of noise climbing the last few steps “Goodnight boys. I told your dad we’ll arrive after breakfast so we can take our time in the morning”. 

James arrived with one of his pyjamas “Here” and he gave it to Scorpius “my brother is shorter than you, this should fit you” and went back to his bedroom. 

Albus looked confused, his brother was never so kind. Never. 

“Well, goodnight” and Harry went upstairs, putting no spell on the boys, or the beds. 

The next morning, when Harry went downstairs to make breakfast, found Albus’ door open. The boys still sleeping, in different beds. He really liked Scorpius. 

After half an hour, a very large cup of coffee and some leftovers of the party, the boys joined him in the kitchen. They didn’t say a word except for a ‘Good morning’. Harry was pretty sure that Albus was holding Scorpius’ hand under the table, because when James entered the kitchen, he definitely gasped. 

“Oh, don’t mind me. I can manage a little romance in the morning”. 

Albus looked at him with wide eyes, and then at his father “You told him?”. 

“I already knew, you are not so subtle as you think”. 

“Who else knows?”. 

“Teddy, and Victoire of course. And with Rose and uncle Ron I think we are over”. 

Albus faced drained “Fuck”. 

“So, don’t screw this up. We all like this one” James added pointing to Scorpius. 

Albus gaped at his brother “I don’t intend to” he finally answered. 

“Good. Now that everything is out in the open... I have to find out what was the name of the brunette of yesterday night because I have a date with her but I really can’t remember”. 

“James!” Harry exclaimed. 

“What? She is boring but actually pretty sexy”. 

“Catherine” whispered Scorpius. 

“Really? Thanks mate” and then turned to his brother “I told you I like him?”. 

“How did you know?” asked a confused Albus to Scorpius, as soon as his brother had left the kitchen with his cup of coffee. 

“She yelled it a couple of times to your brother last night” and looked back at his tea cup, now empty. 

“I think it’s time to go” said Harry, and Scorpius nodded. 

“I get my stuff” and exited the kitchen. 

“I am worried dad”. 

“I know, but I’m going to be with him”. 

Albus nodded and the followed the other boy. 


	7. Draco Malfoy

Harry and the boy stepped out of the fireplace. Malfoy was waiting for them while reading a book. 

“Good morning father”.

“Good morning, and happy new year” Draco stood up from the armchair and put a hand on his son shoulder. When the boy lowered his eyes, he looked concerned at Harry.

“I’ll go put these things in my bedroom, be right back” and Scorpius was gone.

“Potter, what happened to my son?” the look was now murderous.

“Please, sit” Harry chose the couch in front of the armchair and looked straight in Malfoy’s eyes “Nothing to worry about, I swear”.

“So, why is my son so scared that he ran away?”.

“It’s not my thing to tell. I’m here as a support”.

“You think he needs your 'support’ with me?”.

Harry actually thought about that “No, I don’t. But he asked me to stay”.

Malfoy looked hurt, and then Scorpius entered the room. When the boy sat next to Harry on the couch it was too much, it looked like he was looking for protection.

“What is going on here? Why are you so afraid?”.

“Malfoy, please”.

“Shut up Potter, I don’t even know why you are here...”.

“I asked him. I’m sorry father”.

“Why would you need him to be next to you, to talk to me?”.

“Malfoy” at his increasing rage, Harry changed his tone “Draco. Everything it’s ok. I promise you”.

Hearing his birth name Draco calmed down a little. He took a big breath and stood up. He went to the tea cart and, with a flick of the wand, he poured some tea in three mugs. He floated them to the coffee table and sit back. He took his own and looked first at Potter, and then at his son.

Harry looked at Scorpius too “Go on” and smiled at him.

Malfoy wanted to yell at Potter. How dared him be the one comforting his son.

“Father.  Something happened yesterday and I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have done it because  it was disrespectful. I have failed you and embarrassed you” than turning to Harry he continued “and I  took advantage of your hospitality ”.

“What did you do?”  Draco couldn’t believe that his basically perfect son could have done anything to justify all that.

“I... we...” the boy started shaking his head “I can’t. I'm sorry, I don't know how”.

At that Draco stood up getting closer to his boy. Harry left his place near him for Draco to sit. A tear felt down on Scorpius' cheek and Malfoy turned once again his gaze on Potter. This time a pleading question in it.

“During the party  Scorpius and  Albus left the others to be alone” started Harry “Ron found them together ”.

Draco still didn't get the point .  Until his son found the strength to clarify.

“We have been together for a while.  But we never find time to be alone at school so we thought that no one would have noticed us leaving, together. For a while”.

Draco looked at his son and then at Harry. So THAT was the problem. Harry smiled at him, like he knew that it was fine, that Malfoy was going to be a good father and that his son was overreacting.  So, he did something to prove a point.

“Go to  Grimmauld Place and take back with you the young Potter”  he ordered his son.

“But father, it’s not his...”.

“Go, if Potter here agrees I’d like to speak to you both”.

Harry nodded to Scorpius, so the boy stood up and entered the fireplace.

“ Do you trust me, Potter?”.

Harry  didn't  hesitate a second “Sure. As you trusted me with Scorpius”.

“ I'm starting to regret that”.

“No, you don't . But now I think it's me  who owe you a drink”.

“Are you really ok with this?”.

“You handling  two teenagers in love?”.

“Yes, but also them being together”.

“Of course, why shouldn't I?”.

Draco was surprised and grateful to the man standing in front of him. He would have never wanted to ruin his son’s future, especially because of his past, because of what he had been, and the rivalry with the man in front of him. Before he could answer, the two boys came through the flames, and Albus put himself between Scorpius and their fathers.

“Mr Malfoy, I'm sorry for not coming earlier but I was honouring your son wishes. I am here to apologies for our behaviour but not for being in love with your son. I know this is unexpected for both of you but...". 

And then Draco raised his hand interrupting  Albus with one only elegant gesture. Harry was truly impressed.

“ How long is this relationship going on Scorpius?”.

“ A year. Pretty much”.

“ So, you are active”.

“Active?” asked  Albus candidly.

“ Sexually active”. And Harry got it. That was  good parenting and punishing. Nice touch.

“No” answered Albus “Not  technically " corrected Scorpius. They were red like tomatoes and looked at each other, especially not to look at their fathers.

“So,  are we talking about...” and gestured them to continue.

“Manual and... oral” Scorpius looked like he was about to explode.

“So, you need to be tested. If Potter agrees I can do it myself”.

“Father there is no need”.

“ Of course, there is”.

Scorpius was literally trying to  resist the urge to run and hide “He is the only one I have  ever done anything”.

At that  Albus looked at them in challenge “Me too”.

“That’s good, but sex with different partners is not the only way to get sick. So, if you want to continue this relationship you are going to be tested”.

At that something in  Albus clicked. A realisation that Scorpius was to scared and anxious to reach.

“ So, you are telling us, Mr Malfoy, that if we do these tests and they are ok you will allow us to be together?”.

“Even if they are not.  Of course, you would have to be treated and heal before having sex”.

“ Father...” Scorpius tried to intervene but Draco talked first.

“And I don't allow anything. Because there is nothing to be allowed. You are young but this is your life. My job, our job, is to keep you safe. And possibly happy” at that Scorpius run at his father, tears coming down his cheeks, and a barely audible ‘thank you’ whispered.

Harry looked at his own son, who stood now  happy and a little incredulous .

“So, you are really both ok with this ?” asked  Albus .

“ Yes, of course” this time Harry answered. 

“Now we should go to my lab and do these tests. And then we can discuss rules”  added Malfoy.

The boys looked at each other “What rules?”.


	8. What rules?

The tests took less than an hour to get clean result, but it was the most embarrassing hour of the boys’ lives. Draco explained them all the way they could get a sexual disease, he described all the symptoms and, of course, all the potions they were going to need. Albus tried to looked brave but Scorpius was on the edge of a breakdown. Harry never thought that Malfoy could be so hilarious; he had to stop himself from laughing at least a couple of times, not to ruin all Draco’s good work.

When finally, they got the results, Harry thought it was time to give his son a break “Time to go home Albus”. His son nodded and was ready to say goodbye when Malfoy spoke.

“Maybe you could stay for launch” .

Albus looked immediately at Scorpius “I would love to. Dad it's ok?” Harry nodded.

“Father can I show  Albus the Manor before lunch?”.

“Yes, of course. Lunch is in an hour” the boys were already leaving when he added “First rule: no closed doors. For now.”

They both  agreed with no discussion and left the  office  near the lab where they have waited for the results.

“You are invited too, of course” Malfoy stood from his chair and gestured Harry to follow him.

“You don’t have to" Harry wasn’t really sure how to manage that situation. Parenting was ok, being friendly a totally different thing.

“You neither. Of course, you have your sons and wife at home. I just figured we could talk about the rules”.

“Oh, sure. Yeah, I can stay ”.

“Potter don’t feel obliged. If you have to go home...”

“No, no one is home” he interrupted “James is on a date and  Lily is on a vacation with Ginny, so”.

“Mother and daughter little trip?”.

“More ‘ You are the only child that doesn’t hate me or my new boyfriend’  trip”.

Malfoy stopped and turned to Harry “I didn’t know. I’m sorry”.

“We managed to keep it private but it's been a while. We both travel a lot and have never been very public so the press hasn’t got the news yet”.

“Do you mind if I ask you what happened?” Malfoy offered Harry a glass of wine and gestured him to sit in an armchair. They were in a very large living room, next to the dining one.

“We simply found out that without the kids around we didn't have much in common anymore. So, when Lily went to Hogwarts last year we worked even more and travelled more, until she told me that she wanted to leave. And then Dean came in the picture”.

“Dean Thomas?”.

“ Yep”.

“I'm sorry Potter”.

“Don’t be. We weren’t working. And maybe it’s better this way. I don’t know if I would have ever found the courage to leave her" there was a pause and then he started saying “I’m sorry too, by the way”.

“Thank you, but you already told me. You were there”. 

“Of course, Albus would have never left Scorpius alone” Malfoy nodded, taking a long sip.

“So, rules”.

“What do you have in mind?”.

“We don’t have to agree on everything, but I would prefer my son to go through this in a protect environment. I don’t want him to sneak out and do something stupid”.

“So, you are going to allow closed doors in here”.

“Is it a problem?”.

“No, I think. I don’t really know how to deal with all this”.

“What about James?”.

“He is too good at being a teenager. Sneaking around and having fun. And I think he really has his best time at Hogwarts, he has never brought a girlfriend at home, for sure. When I made him the  speech, he told me that he already knew everything. He had even asked George to take him to make the tests”.

“And you were ok with that?”.

“With what?”.

“Him not coming to you, but to his uncle”.

Harry thought about it “I’m happy he has a lot of people to go for different things. He talks to me about everything eventually, but sometimes it’s harder with your father, I think”.

Draco wanted to say he was sorry again, but stopped himself. Potter didn’t need or wanted to be reminded about his childhood. “So, no hotels, or  friends' houses...”

“They don’t really have other friends. Except for Rose. But I doubt they want to be caught by Ron, again” Harry was trying not to laugh.

“How can you be so cruel?” Draco was trying not to laugh himself “You are having fun of something that must have been incredibly humiliating for them!”.

“Look who is talking! You almost made your son implode for shame!” and then they were both laughing.

“Ok, ok. I was trying to convince them not to be so naïve in the future”.

“It was actually quite an impressive demonstration of excellent parenting” Draco had to fight really hard not to be affected by Potter’s words “So,” continued “no hotels. When Lily comes home, no sex. But that is only my problem”.

“Yeah, but we should teach them a lesson about being caught”.

“Definitely. But, apart from that, they are good boys, I don’t know what else we could tell them. What I am really scared of, is what Ginny is going to say”.


	9. Of course, you don't

The lunch was nice, and the boys accepted the few rules with no discussion. Harry left Malfoy Manor as soon as the lunch was over, he still had some files to review at home, leaving Albus in Malfoy’s good care.

As soon as he stepped into his study, he casted a  Revelio charm. The house was empty, except for Kreacher. He hated being alone in that big house, and that was the reason he had accepted all the jobs around the world the minister had given him during the school time. And that was probably the reason for his upcoming divorce. 

He should have been angry. For the last months that was his most recurring thought. But he wasn’t, he had simply accepted the situation. 

When Ginny almost a year before had confronted him, telling she wanted to separate, he was surprised. Just for a few minutes he had been sincerely surprised, and hurt. He had wanted that life together: the house, the children, their dream jobs. But they weren’t together in it anymore. They were both living the same life, in the same house, but not together.

So, he had accepted that and together they had told the decision to their children when Hogwarts was over. They had spent the summer going from  Grimmauld Place to Ginny’s new apartment and back. Until Dean had come in the picture. Harry was surprised she had moved on so quickly because he was still trying to figure out how to be a good father without  her.

One day Dean Thomas had simply knocked at his door. They had previously bumped into each other occasionally at the Ministry, Harry didn’t actually know what job Dean was doing for them, but they had simply greeted each other and went on their ways. His ex-school mate had stepped into his house to tell him he was seeing Ginny and wanted to have a serious relationship with her. He had simply nodded, even when he had asked his permission to meet his children. After Dean had gone, he got angry, but only after. He should have told him he had no right to meet his children, and when the boys heard the news, they were so hurt, angry and disappointed that Harry wanted to cry. James in particular was totally irrational, understandable, but he basically broke out in a magic rush of anger. The only one who wasn’t angry was Lily, the only who wanted to sleep at her mother’s and Dean’s apartment. Albus was more hurt than mad, but still didn’t like to spend time with the new happy family.

So, when the boys weren’t at Hogwarts, they were usually at  Grimmauld place. And when they weren’t, Harry felt lonely. 

He went to his study to do some work when the fire lit up. In the flames there was Lily’s face.

“Hey sweetheart! How is your vacation?”.

“Dad! Where were you? I tried to call you early!”.

“I was out for lunch”.

“Can I come home?”.

“Yes, sure” Harry heard the urgency in his daughter words “Is everything alright?”.

“Yeah. Can I come now?”.

The fire was usually close, only open for calls. Harry cast a spell at it “Why don’t you go get your things and call me your mom?”.

Lily disappeared from the flames and soon Ginny appeared “Where were you?”.

“Out for lunch. What happened?”.

“With who?”.

“I don’t think it’s any of your business”.

“Where are the boys?”.

Harry sighed “James is out with some friends, Albus is with Scorpius”.

“At Malfoy Manor?”.

“Yes”.

“I don’t like that place”.

“I don’t either, but if Malfoy lets his son come here, I don’t see why we shouldn’t do the same”.

“Your home wasn’t the Head Quarter of the Death Eaters”.

“But it was the House of a very dark family, most of his members were actually Death Eaters. The important is that neither the places are any of those things anymore”.

Ginny sighed “She heard me and Dean fighting”.

Harry would have wanted to ask about what, but it wasn’t any of his business. And maybe he didn’t really care “Ok”.

“Nothing else to say?”.

“I don’t want to argue with you Ginny. She is coming back”.

“ Of course, you don’t”.

And then she was gone, and Lily came out of the green flames and run into his arms.


	10. Bad things happen

When James came home and saw Lily reading in the living room in front of the fire, a blind anger took him. He couldn’t think of one single good reason for his sister to be home earlier. He rushed into his father office and slammed the door close behind him.

“What happened?”.

“Hello to you too”.

“Lily” he was panting, trying really hard to catch his breath.

“What about?”.

“Why is she here?”.

“James what is this about? What’s the problem with your sister?” Harry started to worry but he had checked on her just a few minutes before.

“Why is she here today? She was supposed to stay with mum till tomorrow”.

“Oh, that. She fire-called me and asked to come early”.

“Why?”.

And Harry knew that something was wrong. James had been the angrier with Ginny. He had never gone to his mother’s apartment, nor he had ever accepted to have dinner with her and Dean, unless they were all in  Grimmauld Place. And Harry understood that anger, but being so upset was something else. Harry didn’t want to tell anything to give him another reason to hate his mother, but he was seventeen, he wasn’t stupid, and lying to his son was something he had no intention doing.

“She heard your mum and Dean fighting”.

James froze “Are you kidding?”.

“What is going on James. Please tell me”.

“How can she? How can she be so fucking... indifferent?”.

“How can you say something like that! You know it’s not true”.

“Isn’t it? She had left, she is with another man, and now she makes Lily run away from her. She doesn’t give a shit about us, clearly” and he was about to leave when Harry closed the door with a little magic.

“Your mother left because our marriage was over, and it is not only her fault”.

“Let me go”.

“James please, listen to me”. The boy sighed and turned toward his father “Your mother loves you all very much, probably even more now that she can’t be with you all the time. Fighting happens, divorce happens, and I’m sorry it had to happen to you”.

“Can I go now?”.

“James...”.

“Please” he was almost begging, tears of pain and anger watering his eyes, and Harry let the door open.

In that moment Albus entered the room through the fire, followed by Scorpius. He had the time to notice his brother’s expression “What happened?”.

“I don’t really know” answered Harry dejected.

“You want me to talk to him?”.

“You can try”.

“I’ll let him simmer a bit, then I’ll go”.

“Thanks Al. Hi Scorpius”.

“Mr Potter”.

“Harry, please. I already feel too old”.

“Dad, can  Scorp stay for dinner?”.

“Sure, but your sister is at home”.

Albus reddened, remembering one of the few rules they had. “Ah ok. Why so soon?”.

“She asked to come back”.

“Oh ok, but still...”.

“Al, I actually can’t” Scorpius interrupted him.

“Why not?”.

“I don’t want to leave my father alone another evening”.

“Oh, right. Sure”.

Harry didn’t think before talking “Invite him too”.

“Really?” his son sounded enthusiastic.

“There is no need” answered Scorpius.

“I’m simply returning the hospitality. I’ll fire-call him. Don’t worry”.


	11. Lily Luna Potter

It had been a weird a call, and it was being a much weirder dinner. Harry was sitting at his kitchen table with his sons, Scorpius and Draco Malfoy. He had thought about eating in the dining room, but they never used it and he would have felt even stranger. He had cooked something simple, something he had learned after the separation. Pasta was always a good way to cheer the spirits and they definitely need it. Not for the stranger presence at their table, but because James was still very upset, and Albus was now too, after he had tried to talk to his brother. 

“So, what have I missed?” asked Lily. 

Albus raised his head from his plate “Uh, me and Scorpius, we...”. 

“Yeah, that’s old news. And even if it wasn’t it would be quite obvious now. What is this? The lunch to know your family?”. 

“Who told you?” Albus and Scorpius got scared every time someone already seemed to know. 

“No one did. I noticed you at Hogwarts. I’m your sister, I know you!”. 

“Are we really that obvious?”. 

“Don’t think so” Lily was turning the fork in her fingers, thinking “but maybe you should be more careful about the places you choose to sneak to be together. You are Slytherins for Merlin!”. 

Scorpius got all red, Albus was looking at his sister with his mouth open and Malfoy, Draco Malfoy, was laughing. It was something almost incredible, something Harry thought he had never seen, surely not in his kitchen. 

They all started laughing, even James “Come on Al, don’t worry. Someone would have said something if they knew. But I think it’s time for the two of you to stop hiding. You have no reason to”. 

“Yeah, we are talking about it” answered Albus. 

“Of course, it’s your decision” started Lily “But who cares about you already knows. And who gives a shit about the others!”. 

“Lily, language!”. 

“Oh dad, you know I’m right”. 

“You are, but still” and looked between his daughter and Malfoy. 

“Oh right, we have guests. Sorry Mr Malfoy for my bad manners, it’s totally my father’s fault” and she was grinning. 

“Don’t worry, you had no possibilities”. 

Harry was absolutely incredulous. Draco Malfoy was making fun of him, in his kitchen, with his daughter “You know Lily, I don’t really understand how you didn’t get in Slytherin”. 

“The same as you dad, asking for Gryffindor. But it runs in the blood”. 

They finished eating their pasta between Hogwarts’ stories and a little joking, mostly at the expense of Harry, but in the end, they were all in a lighter mood. Lily even hugged Albus and then Scorpius before leaving the kitchen, the two boys looking at the young girl in disbelief. 

Harry stayed in the kitchen to finish cleaning while Malfoy was still sitting at the table looking at him “The only regret I had, is that Scorpius has no siblings”. 

Harry turned to face the man “I don’t know how any of them could have faced the divorce without the others” admitted. 

“Scorpius survived only because of Albus”. 

“What about you?” Harry noticed that Malfoy hadn’t again mentioned Astoria’s name. 

“I have him”. 

“And he has you”. 

“Thank you for this. It was... different”. 

“I never thought this could happen”. 

“It was against all the odds”. 

“Want a coffee?” asked Harry. 

“Not really a coffee person”. 

Harry nodded and prepared some tea instead. He kept showing his back to Malfoy while filling the pot, taking the cups, the tea bags. He knew Malfoy was looking at him, studying his moves. But THAT was not something new. 


	12. This is nice

They moved to Harry’s study, the tray floating in front of them. They sat around the fire, Harry on the couch, Draco in one of the armchairs. 

“Do you have to work?” Malfoy was looking at the infinite stacks of sheets on his desk.

“It can wait, it’s just  bureaucratic paperwork”.

“I can go Potter, you don’t have to entertain me”.

“Believe me, this is definitely better than doing others’ work” and he meant that. All those case files where on his desk only because Robards was on a diplomatic mission with  Shacklebolt . His work was not reviewing all the cases of other  Auror . Harry closed the door with a wave of his hand, silencing the voices of the children.

“Do you do that a lot?”.

“What?”.

“Wandless magic”.

“Only for little things, why?”.

Malfoy was sniggering “Of course, you do”.

“What?”.

“You know it’s not... usual, right?”.

“Well, I don’t like having the wand always in my hand”.

“I meant that not everyone can do that. Almost anyone actually” explained Malfoy.

“Oh come on, I simply closed the ...”.

“DAD” the door burst open and Lily came in the room “Can I go to Rosie’s?”.

“Will you ever learn how to knock?”.

“It’s not my fault you have been a terrible educator”.

Harry sighed “It’s late Lily. Are they expecting you?”.

“Of course not”.

“Then fire-call them first”.

Lily ran to the fire place and put the head in it “ROSIE” she screamed. Then the girl’s head appeared in the flames.

“Lily! You are back!”.

“Can I come?”.

“Yeah, sure”.

And the minute later Lily was on the other side of the magic fireplace. But the second she was gone, Hermione’s head pop up in the flames “Ehi Harry, why is Lily home so...” and she stopped, seeing who else was in the study “Malfoy”.

“Granger. How are you?”.

“Hem, fine. Thanks. You? Is Scorpius alright?”.

“We are both fine, thank you”.

“So, you are..?”.

This time Harry continued for her “We had  dinner with the kids, Albus invited them”.

“Oh, this is nice”.

“It’s ok for Lily to stay at your place?”.

“Yeah, of course. Is everything ok?”.

“She heard Ginny and Dean fighting. She asked to come home today”.

“Oh, ok. I’ll keep an eye on her”.

“Thank you. But I think she is fine” Harry answered, thinking back at dinner.

“Good. That’s good. Well, I’ll talk to you later. Have a nice evening. Malfoy” and she disappeared from the flames.

“She is going to give you a fuss, isn’t she?”.

“Oh, wait till she tell Ron” but the thought made him laugh “He is going to freak out”.

“I can imagine that” and they were both laughing.


	13. Yes, oh

Albus closed the door of his bedroom behind him. The minute Lily had passed him in the hallway with a backpack declaring she was going to Rosie’s, his brain had started blanking out. He was almost panting, and it was absolutely embarrassing. But Scorpius was laying on his bed, a book open over his head, his feet naked on his blanket. He couldn’t avoid thinking back about the night before. An image of Scorpius, almost naked, his perfect candid skin all flushed for the excitement and his kisses, appeared before his eyes. Scorpius had put down the book, hearing him closing the door and was now looking at him.

“Everything ok?”. Albus didn’t answer, he simply walked to his bed, pushing Scorpius on his mattress and started kissing him. The boy answered the kiss at first, but when Albus reached for the edge of his sweater he stopped him “Albus stop!”.

“Why?”.

“Our fathers are just downstairs, and your brothers...”.

“James is listening to music to drown his sorrows” he took away his own sweatshirt “and Lily just went to Rose”.

“Oh”.

“Yes, oh” and he was raising Scorpius’ sweater and shirt to kiss his abdomen.

“Albus, they could enter in any moment” Scorpius was panting, his hands covering his face.

“They won’t” Albus took Scorpius’ hands away and took off the jumper first, the shirt second, hating every single button. He was afraid that his boyfriend was going to stop him, but the way he was looking at him was definitely not a no.

“Albus”.

“Yes?”.

“Take off your t-shirt".

Albus was more than ok with that. It sounded like an order because of the need in Scorpius’ voice, and it was something so unusual that never failed to turn him on. So, they were exactly where they got interrupted the night before. Albus taking away Scorpius’ trousers just before getting to take away his own. They stopped for a second, looking both at the door behind them.

“No inappropriate uncle on the horizon” Albus was back on his feet, to take away his jeans, and to take a good look at his boyfriend “Merlin, you are so hot”. Scorpius blushed, all his perfect skin taking a wonderful shade of pink. He kept his pants on and sat back on Scorpius’ lap. 

They kissed,  longly , with no rush, but it wasn’t enough. Albus didn’t get almost naked just to kiss. So, he lowered himself to kiss the skin of Scorpius’ neck, then his torso, his abdomen. He inhaled deeply just before kissing the flesh under the cotton fabric.

“Albus”

“Tell me what you want”

“Please, touch me”

“With pleasure” Albus took away Scorpius’ pants. He took his time, stroking, kissing, licking, making the boy under him beg and call upon Merlin. Only when he was about to come untouched because of the sight of Scorpius lost in pleasure, he took away his own pants, lay down next to him and took both of them in his hand. It didn’t take long, and they quickly got dressed after because of the threaten of being caught naked. But Albus found difficult letting Scorpius get dressed, letting him cover every inch of that perfect white skin without kissing it.


	14. Do I have to look in your closet?

“Can I come in?”.

“Ron, I have to work”.

“Do you really have to work or are you hiding something? Maybe someone?”.

“If it makes you stop saying bullshit, please come in” And here he was, Ronald Weasley looking around his office, with old Auror’s habits, looking for someone that obviously wasn’t there “Stop being an idiot. He is not here”.

“I don’t know what are you talking about”.

“So, you are telling me that you are not here, on your free day from the shop, to look for Malfoy?”.

“Actually, is my lunch pause, we are very busy during the holiday’s break. You know, kids buying tricks before the school begins”.

“And you wasted it in case I was hiding him in the closet?”.

“Do I have to look in your closet?”.

“Please, do it. Or you will be tormented by it all day long” Harry put the quill down to indicate the room, giving him permission for a search. Ron actually opened the closet, and a cabinet too. “Really? What is he? A contortionist?”.

“I don’t know, is he?” and the look of amusement in Ron’s eyes hit Harry. What was his idiotic brain thinking?

“Ron, what are you implying?”.

“The real question is: am I right?”.

“I have no fucking idea of what you are...” but maybe he was “Please, tell me you don’t really think that Malfoy slept here. Tell me you think that we are working together, or that we are plotting, or that we have simply decided to be civil for the sake of our children. Any of those, please”.

“From what Lily said you are being more than civil”.

“I can’t believe it”.

“Yeah, she said you  were all smiling and laughing and sharing stories. He even helped you with the dishes!”.

“No, I can’t believe you base your theory on the words of my  teenage daughter! What did you do? Interrogate her?”.

“She was actually so excited about the dinner that she didn’t speak about anything else all the evening. Hermione is actually pretty upset that we didn’t tell her anything about Scorpius and Albus”.

“Fuck. You are an idiot”.

“Oh, come on Harry! You were telling me last week that he invited you for a drink, and now you invited him at dinner with your kids!”.

“He didn’t invite me for a drink! He told me he owes me one! And I invited him because we had lunch at the Manor, and I was returning the  hospitality ”.

“You had lunch AND dinner together?”.

“Oh, for fuck sakes. Do you know how this sounds ridiculous? I am married with your sister!”.

“Not anymore. And apparently –You weren’t so happy and relaxed since a  loooong time-. Lily’s words”.

“How in the world could you really think that I could ever be romantically involved with him?”.

“Because he is Malfoy, and you have been ‘involved with him’ since ever”.

“Shut up”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last week I haven't updated this story to post a little Christmas fic set just before "Differently Us".  
> It actually explaines why Draco owes Harry a drink! You can find "Christmas Parties and Unwanted Attention" as the second part of the serie "The Future is Ours to Write".  
> Happy Holidays!


	15. The speech

"Father can I come in?” Scorpius had knocked at the office door, but Draco was too absorbed in his work to actually hear it.

“Yes, wait a second, I finish this letter” Draco was finally closing a deal with Ollivander, the letter contained the final version of a contract he had really fought for. But it was perfect, well written, flawless calligraphy, the deal already approved. So, there was no reason not so seal it and send it.

Once Draco was back at his desk, after sending his owl, he released a  long-held breath “Do you want some tea?”.

“Thank you, father”.

The teapot was always ready, an ancient Black object, one of the few he had kept “So, is there something you want to discuss?”.

“It’s... it’s about Albus”.

“What about him?”.

“You know that we didn’t tell anyone, about us”.

“Yes”.

“And I am sorry”.

Draco understood very well the choice they made. They were boys, in a very traditional school, in a very traditional culture, sons of very public figures, in the good and the bad. “You did what you think was the best”.

“But I didn’t tell you”.

“You didn’t”.

“Are you... upset?”.

Draco had thought about that all the day before, and all that morning too. The moment his son had come with Potter to tell him what had happened had haunted him. “You really thought I wouldn’t accept you?”.

“After everything I couldn’t be a disappointment” Scorpius was looking at him in the eyes, but Draco could see the struggle in his posture.

“You could never be. You are gentle and brave and everything I never was at your age” Draco got up, circled his desk and bent down. They weren’t used to gestures of affection, but he needed to make his son believe him, so he kindly placed his hand on Scorpius’ cheek “I’m so proud of you, and this will never change”.

Scorpius was on the edge of tears, he was so relieved and happy, surprised and nervous that he almost shouted in his father’s face “I need to talk to someone. Someone that isn’t Albus”.

Draco got up, sitting in the chair next to his son, regaining his cup of tea “Sure, about what?”.

“I... I” Albus got up, and started walking up and down the room, all red and flustered “I don’t know how. He wants us... he wants me... I don’t know how. I can’t, I won’t”.

Draco looked at his son, at first worried, then confused “Scorpius, he can’t force you to do something you don’t want” maybe he had a little idea of what was the subject.

“He isn’t! And I want to! But not like... that”.

“Like what?”.

“And he has been so patient, and I don’t think he will wait any longer. He should break up with me. He said he won’t, but he should”.

“Scorpius please, sit down” Draco waited for the boy to sit, then put a hand on his shoulder “Listen, I don’t know what you are talking about, but you should only do things that makes you comfortable. And I think that Albus really cares about you, so I don...”.

“He wants us to have sex” Scorpius burst out. Of course, it was about sex.

“And you don’t feel ready?”.

“I am. I know I am”.

“Then what is the problem?”.

“Are you really ok with this?”.

“Of course, I am. I have been a teenager too, you know? And I want you to feel free to talk to me about this”.

“We never did”.

“No, we didn’t, and I am sorry”.

Scorpius took a big breath “He wants me... he wants me to be the top”.

So, that was the problem. “Oh” that was the only thing coming out of his mouth.

“You know what it means?”.

“Yes, yes, I know”.

“Father I... I don’t know  how; I don’t want to ruin this”.

“Why should you ruin it? And if you both told me truth  yesterday, he doesn’t know how to do it either”.

“He talked with James, once, not mentioning me or being gay, but he did. And he talked to Charlie too”.

“Charlie?”.

“Weasley, his uncle, he is gay. So, Albus knows...”.

“Did you and Albus talked about this, together?”.

“Yes, of course”.

“Then you know exactly what he knows, without any experience you are the same, and you are in this together”.

“Father, but...”.

“But” Draco interrupted him “if you want to know something more... technical and mechanical, I can help you”.

Scorpius locked his eyes with his father. Embarrassment, awareness, relief but also terror for the conversation that was about to come, hit him. “Will you?”.

“Of course, I will. But we will need something stronger than tea”.


	16. Hate always becomes love

Someone knocked at his bedroom door. No one in that house ever knocked “Come in”.

“Al, are you alone?”.

“Yeah Lily, come in. Since when do you knock?”.

“Since you have a boyfriend and I don’t want to be traumatised like uncle Ron”.

“Who told you?”.

“Rose, of course. You should really talk to her” his sister sat on his bed.

“Yeah, we are going for the Epiphany so, let her suffer a little longer”.

“That’s why you are in Slytherin” she was laughing but looked a little worried.

“Is everything ok?”.

“I don’t know. I am a little worried about James. He seemed really upset yesterday when I came back”.

“Was it that bad?”.

“He yelled at dad...”.

“No, I mean with mum and Dean”.

She started playing with a thread of his blanket “Not really, but it’s always so weird. Dean is nice, funny and actually pretty cool. It’s mum that always asks about you and dad and tries  sooooo hard. It’s exhausting and weird and I don’t like talking about dad with her. And I snapped at her when she asked me for the millionth time if he told me something about her and Dean. I left the room and then they started arguing”.

“Shit, I’m sorry”.

“Don’t worry. But I don’t really get why she always asked about dad. She left him!”.

“I don’t know Lily. And I have no idea why James is always so angry with mum; it's like anger is consuming him”.

“Maybe dad knows something more”.

“I don’t think so, when I came back yesterday, he looked pretty astonished by James’ behaviour” Albus was really worried for his brother but didn’t want Lily to be too “So, you actually like Dean?”.

“He is really nice and smart. Not as cool as Draco, but pretty cool”.

“What this has to do with Mr Malfoy?”.

“ Oh, come on, you sleep with his son, you can call him Draco”.

“LILY!”.

“Oh, please! Why do you think I knocked?” Albus was as red as ever, incapable of looking at his sister in the eyes “By the way... I think he really likes spending time with dad, and all that rivalry at school...”.

“What are you talking about?”.

“According to uncle Ron, dad was obsessed with Draco at Hogwarts, and you know how these things evolve...”

“How they evolve? What are you talking about?”.

“Hate always becomes love, of course!”.

“ARE YOU KIDDING?” Albus almost had a heart attack at the thought. His dad and Draco Malfoy, together. It was insane “You are insane”.

“We’ll see, but I have predicted you falling for  Scorp a long time ago. I am always right”.

He threw her a pillow because she needed to stop. Awful images were starting forming in his mind, and he wasn’t sure he would ever be able to forget them.


	17. Define normal

It was the third of January, he was supposed to be on vacation, at home with his sons, not in the hall of the Ministry of Magic directed to the office of Minister of Magic, who happened to be Hermione. Why the hell had she summoned him in her office when they could have talked at  Grimmauld Place? It better be not about Malfoy, because Ron had said enough for the both of them.

He went to his office to drop some files. No one was in the Auror’s department except for the designated teams because they were all reachable with a spell in case of need. Harry greeted them and took the elevator.

“Good morning Auror Potter. The Minister is waiting for you”.

“Good morning” he entered the office, ready to make a scene but fortunately he stopped in time because they weren’t alone. “Robards, Kingsley, I didn’t expect you to be here”.

“Harry, nice to see you!”  Shacklebolt shook his hand with a little too enthusiasm.

“Robards” Harry shook his boss’ hand “I thought you two were still somewhere in the States”.

“We came back yesterday and the Minister summoned us”.

“Like she summoned me” Harry smiled at his friend “Minister”.

“Auror Potter, or should I say Head Auror Potter?” Hermione was smiling widely. It was all Harry really noticed. Why was she smiling like that? What did she just  say ? Harry looked at the other men in the room. 

“Excuse, what?”.

“The moment Head Robards told me he was going to resign to join Kingsley in International affairs we thought about you. Of course, there were some other candidates but, no one is qualified like you”.

“You are leaving?”.

“Why do you think I left you all my work? And you did I great job, by the way”.

“And you didn’t tell me anything?”.

“I couldn’t and I didn’t want to” of course she didn’t, she always followed the rules.

“I don’t know what to say”.

“Are you taking the job?”.

“Of course, I am” there was absolutely no reason to decline the offer “it’s just that I didn’t expect this”.

“Didn’t you? Really?” Robards was laughing “And who do you think was going to be the next Head of the Department?”.

“You? I never thought you would willingly leave!”.

“I am old, I don’t even know all the names of the new recruits. And I don’t care! That’s when I realised that new blood would be good for the Department. You are going to be good for it”.

“Who else knows?”.

“No one, we will announce my retirement after the holidays, and your new assignment too”.

“Perfect, then it’s all settled” announce Hermione getting up from his chair “now, if you want to excuse me, I’d like to hug my best friend”.

***

Harry came back to his office a little deaf. He sat down on his chair and looked outside the window. It was enchanted of course, but the grey sky of London was really realistic. A note flew in front of him. It was a message from outside.

_ Do you remember that drink I owe you, and the one you owe me? What about this evening? D.M. _

Harry smiled. He definitely needed a drink. He thought only for a second about what Ron had told him the day before. But his friend was a total idiot. A knock on his door startled him.

“Can I come in?”.

“Of course, Minister”.

“Please, stop being so formal” she sat in the chair in front of him “So, happy?”.

“Of course, I am”.

“Happy to hear it” Hermione was looking at the note on his desk, trying to read it.

“You don’t really look happy” Harry was getting a little suspicious. His friend never went to his office, it was always the opposite.

“No, I am. It’s just... are you really happy? Beside the promotion, I mean”.

“I am happy to have the boys and Lily at home” he wasn’t going to help her bringing up the subject.

“I bet you are. And this thing between Scorpius and Al... you could have told me”.

“It wasn’t my thing to say”.

“ But you are ok with it?”.

“More than ok. Albus looks happy and Scorpius is a wonderful, smart boy”.

“So, everything else is... normal?”.

Harry grinned, crossing his arms and making himself comfortable “Define normal”.

“Oh, for fuck sakes Harry! Are you going to say something about Malfoy or what?”.

“Or what. There is nothing to say. You, your husband and my daughter can stop acting like idiots”.

“He was at your home”.

“He was”.

“And you had dinner with him”.

“And lunch”.

“How can you be so oblivious? This isn’t normal!”.

“Probably not, but it’s not even what you think it is. And now, if you want to excuse me, I’m leaving”.

“Where are you going?”.

“I am on vacation Hermione. I don’t have to be here!”.

“Then I’ll see you tonight”.

“What? Why?”.

“We are all coming at Grimmauld. Don’t come back home before 8. We are celebrating”.

“Is it necessary?”.

“Of course, it is” she got up and kissed him on a cheek “It’s just us, you can invite Malfoy if you want”.

“Maybe I will” he teased her “And Hermione?”.

“Yes?”.

“Thank you”.

“You deserved it”.

“That too, but I was talking about you worrying. Thank you” then he took his things, left his office and went outside the Ministry. The note still in his hand.


	18. Quick, efficient and charming

Harry and Draco exchanged a couple more messages with time and place of the appointment. Draco choose a muggle bar pretty close  Grimmauld Place. A place where they wouldn’t get unwanted attention. Harry chose the  hour. He had to come back in time to celebrate.

He walked to the pub, a nice place not too fancy, just a couple of blocks from home. He entered the place, looking for Malfoy, but he was a little earlier so sat at a corner table, facing the door. Draco arrived only a couple of minutes later, a little overdressed for the place.

He spotted him and started taking off the coat while walking in his direction “Sorry, am I late? I was in a meeting with someone a little too talkative”.

So, that explained the outfit, even more impressive under the coat “Don’t worry, I just got here”.

Malfoy turned to call the attention of a waiter with a small hand gesture, then opened the buttons of his blue suit jacket and sat back. He looked at Harry for the first time, he was still in his business mode. Quick, efficient and charming. Harry was really impressed and couldn’t hold a smile.

“Gentlemen, what can I get you?”.

Malfoy gestured to go first “For me a pint”. It was a little early to drink but he had to celebrate.

“Two, thank you” once the waiter left the table, Draco loosened his tie.

“You can take it off”.

“And ruin this outfit?” but he laughed and took it off, putting it in his coat pocket. He was still too elegant for the place, even after undoing the first button of his shirt. After their beers arrived, Malfoy took a sip “So, you finally accepted”.

“I couldn’t keep ignoring you”.

“And may I ask why you were ignoring me?”.

“I didn’t want you to feel obliged to offer me a drink”.

“You should have left the decision to me. But I don’t feel in debt with you, not  anymore at least”.

“Happy to hear it” and he really was. It was a weird conversation, some that should have felt awkward and embarrassing, instead it flew naturally, like they had to tell each other those things to finally move on.

“So, what made you accept this time? I hope it’s not our sons’ situation, because I really need a break from them”.

“Why? Something new?”.

“I had to keep a very detailed gay sexual education lesson for my son”.

Harry almost spilled his beer “Do I need to know?”.

“I won’t give a lesson to you too, so I hope you are well prepared on the subject”.

Harry reddened “No, I mean... as a father, is there something I need  to know about them?”.

“That they are planning to have sex, but we had that already figured out. And apparently your son already had the ‘talk’ with some of your brother-in-law”.

“Probably Charlie”.

“Yeah, that one” Malfoy took another sip “So, why accepting now?”.

Harry thought about it while drinking “Of course, it has to do with Al and Scorpius. Thanks to them I got to see you in a more... relaxed, human light. Well, actually in particular thanks to Lily. She really likes you, by the way” he thought back at the dinner they shared, and unfortunately even at the conversation with Ron the previous day.

“Of course, she likes me. She would be a perfect Slytherin. What was she saying about having it in the blood?”.

“When I was  sorted, I basically got to choose between Gryffindor and Slytherin. All I knew back then was that evil wizards came from Slytherin so I asked to be put in Gryffindor. Apparently, she asked the same”.

“You got to choose?”.

“According to the Sorting Hat I was suited for both equally”.

“You, in Slytherin”.

“Who knows what could have happened”.

“Yeah, don’t tell me” Draco got lost in his thoughts, looking in his glass, without drinking.

“By the way I wanted to celebrate too. I got a little... promotion so, a drink was a must”.

“I am honoured you choose to do it with me. Well, congratulation Potter”.

“Harry” he said without thinking “it’s been too long to keep calling me Potter”.

“Old habits are hard to die”.

“At least you should try”.

“If I try, then you should too”.

“I don’t know, maybe you like to be called Malfoy”.

“I do, not from you though”.

“Then Draco it is” and he raised a little his glass before drinking. Then he noticed the hour “I should go back home”.

“Sure, no problem” Draco reached for his coat, taking out the wallet.

“You should come too. They have probably ordered a lot of food; well, I hope they have because they are both terrible at cooking”.

“Thank you, but there is no reason why I should be there”.

“Of course, there is! It’s only us, and Scorpius is already at my place. You already know everyone, why shouldn’t you come Draco?”.

Malfoy was putting on his coat when he heard his birth name. He was fortunately giving his back to Harry, because he was pretty sure his face would be revealing.


	19. What a surprise

They walked close, Harry casually asking Draco how was going his work. Casually because he had basically no idea on what his work consisted in.

“Here we are” Harry put his key in the door lock and gestured Draco to precede him. They walked through the long hallway and Harry noticed the lights were all turned off in the exact moment someone chose to yell “CONGRATULATION” and turn them all on.

It was not only them. There was EVERYBODY, under a poster with written on the words CONGRATULATION HEAD AUROR, looking at him in disbelief when they noticed him next to Draco Malfoy, all dressed up like a fucking Muggle model.

“Hem” he tried to say “What a surprise!”. He took off his coat, turning to Draco to ask for his.

“Give them to me” Hermione approached them with a grin and hugged him “I don’t know who gave who a surprise” she whispered at his hear.

“Shut up” he replied. Next to them Draco chuckled.

“Malfoy, nice to see you. I heard about the deal with Ollivander’s son. It’s a wonderful project!”.

“Thank  you, Granger . Or should I call you Minister?”.

“Definitely Granger. Who knows, maybe we’ll switch to Hermione, Draco” and she left.

“What was she talking about?” asked him Harry.

“Not now, this is your party Head Auror Potter. A little promotion eh?”.

Harry was about to reply when Lily arrived running “DAD, congratulations” and she was followed by James, Albus and Scorpius.

“Congratulations Mr Potter”.

“Harry, please. Or I’ll revoke your permanent invitation in this house” he winked at the boy and added “Thank you”.

Albus was the next hugging him “Mom is here” he whispered in his father’s ear.

Of course, she was. Harry raised his eyes to look for her and spotted Ginny in the back of the room, watching them. He then looked at James, looking worried and angry. Harry hugged him “This in only about us. This is because of you. Tonight, is for you as much as it is for me” and took the three of them in a hug, then Scorpius too because is hand was already in Albus’. Draco was looking at him in disbelief.

“Now I have to go and say hi to all these people, in the meanwhile, you eat, drink and take care of Draco. There are too many Gryffindor in this room” and left with a little laugh.

He greeted all the persons he met, but his goal was Ginny. Dean was next to her talking to Seamus and Neville. He looked totally relaxed, the exact opposite of his ex-wife.

“Harry!” his old roommates hugged him, Dean only shook his hand, but was clearly sincere when he congratulated with him. “So, how does it feel to be the big boss?”.

“I don’t really know. I just heard the news a few hours ago, like all of you apparently”.

“Ron called us even before you had accepted the job” Neville confirmed.

“What did I do?” Ron arrived with a few beers in his hands, distributing to them all, except Harry “Sure you haven’t already drank enough?” a stupid smile on his face.

“Harry, can we talk?” Ginny had heard his idiotic brother’s words.

Dean tried to intervene “Honey, I don’t think it’s the best moment to...”.

“I need to talk to him about our sons. So, I think every moment is a good one” and walked to the kitchen. And Harry followed her.

“What is it Gin?” he stopped just inside the kitchen, where there was only Hermione making some trays flew towards the dining room.

“Hermione, do you mind leaving us some privacy?”.

“She can stay, we will tell her everything tomorrow anyway”.

“Fine, if it’s not a problem for you. Malfoy, really?”.

“What about him?”.

“Are you sleeping with him? With our children in the house?”.

“Are you kidding? Do you really think I would do something like that? And how is this any of your business?”.

“You seem pretty close”.

“Well, we are not. But in case you didn’t notice, your son is dating his son, they are going around hand in hand and you were too busy looking at me to see it! So, he is in our lives because of this”.

“And you didn’t tell me?”.

“I have known only for three days, and no, I didn’t run to tell you because he was scared of how you would react!”.

“You should have told me anyway! And maybe we would have discussed if it’s a good idea!”.

“Tell me you are joking”.

“I am not”.

“Then this conversation in over”.

“You can’t walk away from me!”.

“Like you did?” and he walked out of the kitchen, directed to the nearest place where he could be alone. But on the way to his office, he found a couple of people chatting in line for the bathroom. He greeted them and took the next flight of stairs where he run in Malfoy. “What  are you doing here?”.

“Albus showed me this floor bathroom. He didn’t want me to wait” and smiled “Well, now that I have used my privilege, I’ll go back to the party. Coming?”.

“No”.

Malfoy looked at him with attention, seeing something he asked “Do you want me to call Granger or Weasley?”.

“No, thank you. Want to see something?” Harry had thought about showing it to him since they had dinner together.

“Yeah, sure”. Harry led the way to his bedroom, and closed the door behind them. “This is your bedroom”.

“It was Sirius’”.

“ Mm , ok”.

“Here you are” and pointed to the tapestry with the Blake’s family tree “You and Scorpius”.

Draco turned his look from the bed to the wall, took an insecure step and lightly traced his son’s name and figure, then Astoria’s. He ran his fingers back to his mother and Andromeda, even Bellatrix. “It’s incredible”.

“Your great  great aunt burnt all the names she didn’t like. I manage to restore it and its magic. When I did, Astoria and Scorpius appeared. I did it for Sirius but... I thought you would appreciate it”.

Malfoy turned to watch him “You thought...”.

“Yeah. After all the pain and the loss, I would love to have something like this” Harry passed his fingers on Sirius’ image and on Regulus’ too. He wouldn’t have won the war if it wasn’t for him, or Narcissa, Tonks, Lupin and even Draco. All people carved in that wall.

“I can’t do this” he heard whispering next to him.

“Do what?” Harry turned to watch him. Malfoy was looking at him with an intensity that made him take an involuntary step back. But it wasn’t enough. Draco took two steps forward and, taking his face in his hands, kissed him. It was only a feather touch, and finished almost immediately when Malfoy let him go and left the room. 


	20. Being good for each other

Harry came back to the party. Well, his body did. His mind stayed in the bedroom, near Sirius figure, with the ghost of that kiss. Fortunately, everybody already knew about his encounter with Ginny in the kitchen, so no one asked why he was so weird. 

He managed to talk to everyone. With Ginny and Dean gone, Draco too, it wasn’t so difficult. Hermione approached him a couple of times, but she was worried about Ginny, so no one asked why Draco had left so early. He heard Scorpius telling Lily that he had excused himself, telling he was really tired after a long day of work. Good excuse. James was like a lion in a cage, wanting to be there for his father and for his brothers, but also so angry with his mother that he wasn’t able to stay still. Lily was going around helping Hermione and Rose, a perfect landlady, smiling and chatting with everyone. Albus was totally in bliss. He was still holding the hand of a constantly blushing Scorpius, but neither of them looked like wanted to let go. Maybe the sex lesson Draco had mentioned before had something to do with that. 

Watching them he thought about Draco, who kissed him. Why the hell had he kissed him? Maybe it was his fault, he had accepted the drink, then he had invited him home and in his bedroom. Fuck, was it his fault? 

Fortunately, Ron was so drunk that didn’t try to talk to him. And Harry was carefully avoiding him. Was he really obsessed with Draco? Was Draco really interested in him? Was he lonely? Was he gay? He hadn’t thought about that, he was a man, they both were. He was getting a headache. He hadn’t eaten anything, he had only  drunk a beer, with Draco.

“Harry, are you ok?” Neville was next to him.

“Just a little headache. Too many emotions for the day” he joked.

“I bet! You know, it’s good to see you get along with Malfoy. I hoped something like this happened watching your kids at school. They are good for each other, and they need both of you to be there for them. Lily instead is a nightmare. Seriously, what did you  give her in her childhood?”

“I never said this to you, but I am really happy you are their teacher. You kept an eye on us back in the days, and I am sure you are doing the same with my children. Lily has no hope, she is going to rule the school before the end of the year”.

“I am sorry to tell you. She already does. She actually scares me”.

“Me too Nev, me too”.

After that people started leaving. Harry felt a little better, maybe because he knew someone thought his friendship with Draco was a good thing. Friendship. He had thought they were going there, but now? He greeted everyone, actually happy to see old friends and co-workers. Even James seemed calmly, chatting with George, looking together at some pictures.

“How is everything going on here?” he asked to them.

“We were just watching some old pictures. I didn’t know you had a copy of this” and George showed him the article about the opening of the  Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.

“Of course, I have. It was the best thing happening that year!”.

“Yeah, thanks to you”.

“I have been well repaid of the investment”.

“You know. You shouldn’t listen to her. Both of you” George put his hand on his nephew shoulder.

“Did she tell something to Albus?” Harry realised he had left his sons alone with a very angry and unreasonable Ginny.

“Ron found the lucidity to make her leave before she could”.

“Dean helped, a lot” added James.

“Yeah, but he is probably paying the price right now” George stood up “Well, it’s time to go back to the troop. You should come before Hogwarts begins James. Harry congratulations, see you soon”.

“Thanks George”.

“That’s what family is for”.

Eventually everyone, except Hermione left. They were bringing glasses and plates in the kitchen.

“You don’t have to help me, there are spells for it, you know?”.

“If only you used them” she replied “Are you ok?”.

“Yeah, don’t worry”.

She laughed “Like that’s an option”.

“You have an entire magic community to worry about. Not mentioning a one and only Ron Weasley”.

“If only I had an efficient Head Auror to help me”.

“He is not enough with the Weasley situation and you know it”.

“Oh Harry” she was laughing but was visibly worried.

“Spit it”.

“Are you really okay? What Ginny said...”

“She can say what she wants about me, but not about Albus”.

“She shouldn’t. It’s none of her business who do you sleep with”.

“Hermione, I am not sleeping with Malfoy” the feeling of the kiss came back to him.

“But you could, if you wanted” he was about to reply when she kept talking “I’m not talking about him in particular, but about you. The kids are big enough, Ginny has moved on and you deserve to be happy. But about Malfoy...”

“Here she goes” he rolled his eyes.

“I just wanted to say that if you like being his friend, there is nothing wrong with it. You can spend all the time you want with him and the kids like him so, why not?”.

“I don’t know if it’s a good idea".

“The past is the past Harry. He could surprise you”.

“You have no idea”.


	21. Pansy Parkinson

"Draco can I come in?” no answer “Draco?” still no answer. That was strange “Well, I am coming in. If you are entertaining a guest it’s your fault for not answering me”.

Pansy entered the room with a little jump, her skirt was definitely too tight to fire-travel. She looked around in Draco’s study, no sign of him. She was about to go look for him in the Manor when a little version, not so little anymore, of his friend made his appearance. And he wasn’t alone.

“Aunt Pansy! You are here!” Scorpius blushed, looking between her and the boy next to him.

“Scorpius, come here” she opened her arms to invite him into a hug. Draco had been the only one of their  circle of friends to have a child so, the boy had always been spoiled and cuddled by all of the former Slytherins, in particular since Astoria got sick. While she was hugging the boy, she looked at the figure waiting next to the door, the resemblance was unmistakable “And you” she addressed him “You must be a Potter”.

“Albus Severus Potter” the boy held his hand for her to take. She smiled at him, while shaking his hand in amusement. She would have never guessed this day would have come.

“My boyfriend” whispered Scorpius.

Surprise over surprise “Well, it’s wonderful news” Pansy turned to look at a blushing Scorpius “I hope you are being... safe”.

The boys both looked at her with terror “We... we are”. Probably Draco had already done them the speech.

“Good, good. Now, can you tell me where is your father hiding?”.

“I think he is still in his bedroom”.

Draco Malfoy in bed at ten in the morning? The news of his son must have hit him hard “Very well. I’ll go get him out of his bed. It was nice to meet you Albus. I hope you are treating Scorpius well”.

“I am ma’am”.

“Good, I’ll see you both later” and she left the room and the boys. She took off her heels not to give any warning about her presence. She didn’t want Draco to put his defences on. When she entered the master bedroom, she immediately located Draco’s body under the covers. The room was still in the dark so she went to the curtains and with a flick of her wand she opened them, letting the sun light enter the bedroom. She had always envied the master bedroom Draco had created for him and Astoria, it was absolutely glorious and yet cosy, but the scene in front of her was anything but glorious. “Who the hell are you? And what have you done with Draco Malfoy?”.

Draco was wearing something totally different from the silk pyjamas Pansy knew he used to wear. It looked like he was wearing his old Quidditch uniform and she couldn’t find a single good reason for him to do so. His hair was a mess, and his hair were never a mess, unless he had spent the night passing his fingers through them, and the last time he did that was during the war. His eyes were shut against the light, but she could see the eye bags circling them. 

“Who let you in?”.

“You idiot, you granted me access since ever”.

“Why are you here?”.

“Because you are my friend and I am back from France for a couple of days. Surprise!”.

“Perfect timing” he mumbled against the pillow.

“I have met your future son-in-law".

“Albus is here? Fuck”.

“Is this the problem? Your son having a boyfriend?”.

“You well know THAT is not a problem”.

“Is him being Potter’s son then?” Draco growled something in the pillow “Sorry, what?”.

“I... kissed him”.

“YOU KISSED YOUR SON’S BOYFRIEND? DRACO!!!”.

“Why on earth are you screaming? Of course, I didn’t kiss Albus!”.

“Then who?” she looked at him and his desolation hit her. There was only one person able to do this to him, but he couldn’t have kissed him, not after all that time “You didn’t”.

“I am a fucking idiot” was his only response.

“It’ been more than 20 years. What happened? How it happened?”.

“He was so fucking kind”.

She was totally shocked because that was such an idiotic thing to say. So, of course, she started to laugh. “You kissed Harry Potter because he is kind? Oh Merlin” and she couldn’t stop laughing.

He sat just to show her his disappointment “You are not helping, at all”.

“How can I help someone who kissed his teenage crush because he is kind”.

“He is not generally kind. He was kind, to me”.

“Are you serious?”.

“We had a drink, he called me Draco, we talked, he invited me to his promotion party. I shouldn’t have gone”.

“And then you kissed him?”.

“His ex-wife was a bitch, she yelled at him because of me and I hid upstairs and when I got out of the bathroom he was there and he invited me in his bedroom”.

“He did what?”.

Draco was passing his hand through his hair making even more a mess “He wanted to show me a fucking tapestry with my mother’s family on it. He had repaired it so, he wanted to show me Astoria and Scorpius on it. He restored a magic family tapestry and thought I would have liked to see it”.

“ So, you kissed him”.

“So, I kissed him”.

“And?”.

“And what?”.

“What did he do?”.

“Nothing, I ran”.

“Oh Draco”.

“I have barely seen him for 20 years, never talked to him before last week. I can manage to do that for the next 20 years”.

“Except...”

“No, I can do it”.

“Draco, honey, his son is in your living room”.

“Fuck”.


	22. Forgivable or forgettable

“Fuck”.

It was the only possible thing to say, the only perfect word, able to reassume his poor life’s choices. Because of course he had to screw everything up the second he had managed to feel satisfied about his work and his life again. A little, annoying version of his own voice was repeating in his head that maybe, it was exactly why he had done something so stupid. He had finally managed to get Ollivander to sign, his plan for Diagon Alley was coming to life after years of failures, and Scorpius was happy, free to be himself and happy. With a Potter. Of course, it had to be with the perfect son of the perfect Saviour of the Wizarding World. Not that he couldn’t understand his son’s choices. If he had been able to make them at his age and if only THAT would have been a possibility, he would have dived into it. Or maybe not. Because he was a coward when he was Scorpius’ age. And Potter wasn’t interested in him. Well, not in the way Draco was. WAS. He had to think about it as something belonging in the past, what had happened the day before had been a stupid accident. He had alcohol to blame, a beer was  enough, right? And the excitement for the Ollivander deal. And the fight Harry had with Weasley. And the fucking tapestry and Harry Potter kindness. Those were all very good reasons for his impulsive, one time, totally forgivable behaviour.

But the real reason why his behaviour wasn’t forgivable or forgettable at all, entered the room after knocking his bedroom door “Father, are you okay?”

“I am Scorpius, don’t worry. I’ll be back on my feet after a long shower and a good meal”.

“Do you want me to ask the elves for something in particular?”

“It won’t be  necessary; I’ll have lunch with you and Albus”.

“Aunt Pansy, are you staying as well?”

“Sure honey”.

Scorpius stayed in the door frame a few more seconds, visibly worried about something. “What is it?” Draco asked him. What else could there be?

“There is a fire-call for you, but if you don’t feel fine...”

“I am not really in the mood for taking it”.

“The thing is, you always told me to never make you lose this kind of call”.

“Is it mother? Don’t worry, tell her I’ll call later. That we have guests now”.

“It’s not grandma, father”.

Fuck. Fuck. Draco took a deep breath and, trying to steady his voice he answered his son “I’ll be there in a minute”.

“Albus is talking to her so, no need to hurry” and he closed the door behind him.

Draco moved away the blanket and took off his jersey throwing it on the ground. “Draco, what is going on? Who is calling you?”

“Of course, she already knows. Fuck” he started to look for a shirt to wear, without really searching for it. His hands in his hair, his breath almost  laboured .

“Draco STOP! You are getting yourself a panic attack. Breath slow and tell me what is happening!”

“GRANGER”.

“Granger what? Is she the one calling?”

“Yeah, Scorpius knows to never let me turned down calls from my mother and the Minister of Magic”.

“Okay, what’s the problem with the Minister calling you?”

“She knows! Of course, she already knows!”

“About the kiss? And you think she would call you? To do what?”

“I have no idea, but she can ruin everything for me and stop the project if she wants!”

“And she would do that because you kissed Potter? And you really think that he ran to tell her the minute  you did it? We are not teenagers at Hogwarts anymore” she was trying really hard not to laugh at his friend panic.

He looked at her really upset “You already know, right? Why it should be any different?”

“Honey, relax. And even if she knows, I don’t think she would ruin you. Maybe she is not your biggest fan but...” and she stopped when Draco looked at her with panic.

“My biggest fan? I literally bullied her, called her with the worst insults possible for a wizard. And you think she would be fine with me assaulting his best friend? Who happens to be the new Head Auror and the most virtuous person in this fucking world?”

“You didn’t assault him! It was a kiss! And now” she took a shirt and a pair of jeans from the closet “put these on and man up”.

“I fucked up, didn’t I?”

“You better go out there and find out”.


	23. Power couple

"Malfoy, sorry for fire-calling you, but I needed to talk about something urgent”.

When Draco had entered his office, Scorpius and Albus were on the ground talking animatedly with Granger and she was laughing. The minute she saw him in the background she had composed herself and said goodbyes to the boys. Draco needed a cup of tea, or maybe something stronger, but he had her waiting long enough. “There is no problem Minister, sorry for keeping you waiting”.

“Don’t worry. Scorpius mentioned you having guests” he didn’t miss the strange inflection she gave to the word ‘guests’ “and call me Granger, please”.

He simply nodded “So, Granger what can I do for you?”

“After what happened yesterday” here we go “I was thinking maybe we could discuss your project. I was wondering if you could show me your plans for the future of Diagon Alley”.

This was at least unexpected “There are no plans, I just closed the deal with Ollivander, I don’t know...”

“Don’t play dumb with me Malfoy” she interrupted him, a knowing grin on her flaming face “I know you very well, and I know that Ollivander was just the first. You could have started with anyone else, but you choose the probably most difficult because of the visibility, am I right?” when he didn’t answer she kept talking “Look, my interest is professional and personal, you don’t have to share your company plans of course, but if I got what you are trying to do correctly, then I’ll do anything in my power to help”.

“I see” this  couldn't be happening.

“If, I see the full plan, numbers included”.

“It will take some time...”

“What about the six?”

“Of which month?”

“January, of course”.

“It’s in two days!”

“I knew you could make it, the six at my place, let’s do it at 9.30?”

“Granger, Minister, this is impossible...”

“I trust you to make it possible. Another thing, do you happen to be free tomorrow night?”

Draco had agreed, to everything. Because he had to and because he was so relieved that she didn’t know about the kiss he had simply nodded. Two days to prepare the presentation, one to prepare himself to accompany her to a muggle event. When in the meantime she could learn about the kiss, if she didn’t already know and had a very  good poker face.

“How did it go? Did she punch you again?” Pansy was in the door frame, smiling at him.

“She wants to join the project”.

“ Personally, or as the Minister?”

“Both, I think”.

“You think?”

“She wants to see the numbers before”.

“It’s a good thing, right?”

“Yes, until she finds out about the kiss”.

“ Oh, come on, you are both adults, I don’t think he needs the Minister of Magic to defend his virtue”.

Draco laughed, passing a hand on his face “Maybe not, maybe he prefers Granger to ambush me so he doesn’t have to deal with me anymore”.

“It was a kiss Draco, don’t be so dramatic”.

He arched an eyebrow “Me? Dramatic?”

“Oh right, you’re the Prince of Drama” she got close and sat next to him, on the armchair “It’s going to be fine” she hugged him, winning his resistance.

“How can you possibly say that?”

“Because your project is great, you are going to make it become reality with or without the help of Granger and who knows...” she let the sentence hang between them.

“What?”

“Maybe you’ll win the boy too”.

He looked at her with narrowed eyes, breaking the embrace “You haven’t really just said that”.

“I have and I believe it!”

“Oh, shut up” Draco raised from the armchair, ready to leave the room and the conversation.

“You know I am always right about this stuff!”

“You actually believe me and Potter could be... I don’t even know what... a thing?”

“A couple! And I would say a powerful, sexy one”.

“You are ridiculous!”

“Am I? Then tell me: why did you kiss him?”

“I told you why!”

“Really? You, the man who never even talked to someone if they weren’t already drooling at your feet, kissed Harry Potter without any signal?”

“Believe me, there were no signals”.

“Just him being nice?”

“Just him being annoyingly nice”.

“I don’t believe it” Pansy was now in front of him, looking at her best friend, looking for lies.

“Then don’t. But I can assure you, there was no casual touching, no languid looks. Just my birth name and kindness”.

“Maybe it is his way of flirting”.

“Then he is terrible at it”.

“Well, it worked on you”.

“You are the worst”.

“And yet, you love me”.


End file.
